Website monitoring is essential to running any business that relies upon the internet, which, at this point, is basically all of them. Whether you're selling products, providing a web-based service, or using a web application to interact with customers, post information, or coordinate operations, it's crucial to know how your website is functioning for web and mobile users, in real time. Almost all website monitoring platforms include built-in alerts and notifications, but the most efficient way to keep apprised of everything going on with your website is to integrate an incidence response and alerting service such as PagerDuty.

The website monitoring platform your business chooses will heavily depend on price point and organization size, but on both the small to midsize business (SMB) and enterprise ends of the spectrum, you can find a great service offering built-in PagerDuty integration. Of the platforms we've tested, both enterprise-focused Dynatrace UEM and SmartBear AlertSite Pro, our Editors' Choice for SMBs, enable PagerDuty integration with a few simple steps. Here's how to quickly get the alerting service up and running in each website monitoring platform.

Dynatrace IntegrationSetting up PagerDuty alerts in Dynatrace can't be done in the web app; you'll need to download the Dynatrace desktop Webstart client, which requires the 64-bit Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 7 download to install and access. Though, on the PagerDuty side, configuring the integration couldn't be easier. Step 1: The PagerDuty SideIn PagerDuty, click the Services tab. Then, on the right sidebar, click "Add New Service." From here, simply enter "Dynatrace" as the name of the service, and enter the Escalation Policy (who will be notified; you can choose Default here). Next, under Integration Type, select "Dynatrace" from the drop-down list. PagerDuty announced its official integration with Dynatrace last year so there's no need to configure the integration via email or manual coding with PagerDuty's application programming interface (API). Then, just click "Add Service" and you'll be redirected to the services page where you'll see the Service API Key. You'll then need to configure PagerDuty alerts in the Dynatrace client.

Step 2: Dynatrace Plug-in ConfigurationDynatrace's web user interface (UI) is responsive, user-friendly, and easy to navigate. The desktop client…isn't. Luckily, PagerDuty and Dynatrace created an integration guide to help navigate the process.

Once you've logged into the Dynatrace server with administrator-level permissions and opened the Dynatrace client app on your desktop, you'll need to first download the PagerDuty plug-in. From there, find the Tools drop-down list in the top navigation bar and select "Manage Plug-ins." Click "Install Plug-in" and you should see the PagerDuty plug-in file you just downloaded.

Once installed and opened, PagerDuty will then appear on the Manage Plug-ins page. If you highlight and right-click the entry and select "Properties," you'll see a field in which you can enter the Service API Key you got from PagerDuty.

Step 3: Setting Up Incident AlertingNow that you've entered the Service API Key, head to the Incident Dashboard in the Dynatrace client. You'll see a list of all the incidents Dynatrace is currently monitoring. Choose the incident type for which you want to set up PagerDuty alerts, right-click the entry, and then open "Edit Incident Rule."

Click the "Advanced Configurations" link in the bottom right-hand section of the pop-up box. You'll see the "Add Action" box. This will take you to Rule Action editor and a list of active plug-ins, from which you will select "PagerDuty Plug-in." From here you can decide whether you'd like a phone call, an email, or a SMS notification from PagerDuty (depending on the severity of the incident). Finally, set the Execution option as "on incident begin," click Add, and you've set up a working PagerDuty alert for a Dynatrace incident. Repeat this process with as many incidents as you like.

SmartBear AlertSite IntegrationAlertSite's PagerDuty integration process is similarly executed, but with much less hassle for SMBs than the clunky manual process in Dynatrace's desktop client. AlertSite lets you configure everything from within its intuitive web app.

Step 1: The PagerDuty SideThis part is identical to the Dynatrace integration. In PagerDuty, select "Services" under the Configuration tab and click "Add New Service." Enter the name of the service (AlertSite), select the Escalation Policy, and find AlertSite in the Integration Type drop-down list. Click "Add Service."

The one difference between this setup and that of Dynatrace is that you don't receive the API Service Key here. So don't worry if nothing else pops up; you'll get the service key when the time comes on the AlertSite side.

Step 2: The AlertSite SideAfter you've added the service in PagerDuty, head over to the AlertSite dashboard. Click "Settings" on the far right-hand of the navigation bar, and select "Manage Integrations" from the drop-down list. This will bring up an icon page of all AlertSite's built-in integrations, including AppDynamics, PagerDuty, and Splunk.

When you click on PagerDuty, a dialog box will open prompting you to add a new recipient. Click the "Alert with PagerDuty" button that follows, and then enter your PagerDuty account information in the pop-up box that appears to authorize the AlertSite integration.

Once authorized, you'll be taken back to a screen in PagerDuty to configure the AlertSite integration. You already set up the integration on the PagerDuty side, so select "Use an Existing AlertSite Service" and select the existing option from PagerDuty. Click "Finish Integration" and you'll be redirected back to AlertSite for the final step: a box showing AlertSite as a New PagerDuty Recipient, with the Service Key field already populated. All you have to do is click "Submit."

Now, when you access the Alert Recipients page in AlertSite, PagerDuty will appear as an option. Click "Edit Recipient" to select various alert types and configure availability and performance alerts, which can then send PagerDuty alerts via phone, email, or SMS when thresholds are triggered. Such thresholds include a certain number of errors, when a security hole is detected, or when website response time exceeds a lag threshold.

All AlertSite monitors send alerts to all configured alert recipients by default. But, if recipients are sorted into groups, each group's monitors send alerts only to that group's recipients. You'll need to add the PagerDuty recipient to any specific groups you've created if you'd like those specific alerts to flow through the service.

Step 3: Double-Check the Incident LogFinally, it's always prudent to make sure the integration you've set up actually works. Try configuring a PagerDuty alert from AlertSite. When it triggers, head back to PagerDuty's Services page and select the AlertSite integration service.

You should see an incident listed on the page triggered by AlertSite. Click on the incident number to view a detailed report of what incident occurred, which users were involved, and the pending actions (plus all of the device, location, and status details for which PagerDuty is known). PagerDuty incidents will automatically resolve when AlertSite sends a "clear" notification. You can integrate AlertSite with as many PagerDuty services as you like by repeating this process for different AlertSite monitors.

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